A Tufts University graduate student, Rümeysa Öztürk, has been granted a stay of deportation by an immigration court, her attorneys announced. The court's decision, made on January 29, found that the Department of Homeland Security had failed to prove that Öztürk should be removed from the United States. This ruling comes after Öztürk, a PhD student studying children's relationship to social media, was detained by immigration officials near her Massachusetts home in March. The detention occurred during a period when the Trump administration was targeting foreign-born students and activists involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy. Öztürk had co-authored an op-ed criticizing her university's response to the Israel-Palestine conflict and the war in Gaza. The immigration court's decision to terminate her removal proceedings and the possibility of the Department of Homeland Security appealing the decision are now under review by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Öztürk's attorneys have expressed concerns about her First Amendment and due process rights, as well as her health, and a federal judge has supported her release. However, the federal government has appealed her release to the 2nd Circuit, and Öztürk's attorneys warn that the government may attempt to detain her again if it appeals the immigration court's decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals. Öztürk has been living on the Tufts campus outside Boston since her release from a Louisiana immigrant detention center in May. She has expressed relief and hope that her case may inspire others who have faced injustice at the hands of the U.S. government.
